The invention relates generally to the field of package and articles carriers and more particularly to knapsack frames which are convertible to tent frames.
Specifically there is disclosed herein a frame for a backpack which can be partially disassembled without aid of tools and quickly reassembled into a frame for a tent attached to the backpack. The tent can stand alone with the aid of support ropes without need for an external support such as a tree.
Various means have been devised in the prior art for converting backpack frames into tent frames. One such device is exemplified in the Carter patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,822,813. There a backpack frame is illustrated which has a generally "L" shaped configuration. When conversion to a tent frame is desired, the short section of the "L" is strapped to an upright pole or tree. A pair of second frame members which are pivoted at the top of the "L's" and fastened by a pin at the opposite end are unpinned and unfolded to align themselves with the long portion of the "L's" and horizontal to the ground. A second pair of extensions telescope out of this first pair of extensions and thereby form the tent frame as two horizontal, parallel members from which the tent hangs. The tent is carried in folded state inside the backpack. The first pair of extensions are affixed in their extended positions by pins through aligning holes in the first pair of extensions.
The present invention fills several needs unfilled by the Carter device. First, no tree is needed to support the tent frame. The tent frame is self-supporting with the lower half of the pack frame providing vertical support on one end of the tent. The reassembled components of the top half of the pack frame provide a tent frame vertical support on the open end of the tent. Although guy wires or ropes are needed on each end of the tent frame of the present invention, such a configuration should be more stable in high winds than the Carter frame which is unsupported at the end away from the tree. Finally, no space in the pack is taken up by the tent in the present invention as in Carter since the tent is affixed to the bottom of the backpack and not inside it.